One recommendation is to let them brush their own teeth when they can write their name well. Her chewing on the toothbrush is not tooth brushing - it is not actually removing plaque. You can let them do it in addition to your brushing their teeth to help them gain independence, but they physically can not do a good job at such a young age. It is the same as wiping her butt. If you let her wipe her own poopy butt, there would still be poop everywhere, no matter how hard she tried. You just have to do it. Carlos hates his butt being wiped and it is no fun at all, but it gets done. He is major wiggly and just getting him to stay on his back can be very difficult with lots of tears and screaming. Sometimes the argument that you won't leave poop on her butt and you won't leave plaque on her teeth is effective, but it might just peas him off, depending on his personality.

As for the knee-to-knee, it is your knees to the provider's knees. Even if she wiggles, it is still knee-to-knee, unless you or the dentist are wiggling. :)

I want to make a video of how I brush Carlos' teeth. Maybe that will help. If you do see a pediatric dentist (or a general dentist that is comfortable seeing kids), ask them to show you how to brush her teeth and ask them to watch you do it so they can give you pointers. That is a really helpful way to learn, hands on, with someone who knows how to do it.

OMG that would be SO helpful! I love the analogy of the poopy butt, and am going to share it with him. If I could see a video, it would hopefully help me figure out how to do it quckly for minimal trauma...

Thank you so much kimba!

_________________My oven is bigger on the inside, and it produces lots of wibbly wobbly, cake wakey... stuff. - The PoopieB.

As far as holding her down goes, we have to do that sometimes. I didn't want to have her associate negative feeling with brushing so we do "fun" brushing too. I let her watch me brush and she likes to copy me. Then I hold her and brush her myself. My point is I try to be fun with it and let her feel like she is in control, but if she won't cooperate I do force it.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make a video, Kimba! I force the toothbrushing now, but I am sure I am not doing a great job. I definitely touch all the teeth front and back, but it's just a quick swipe at each tooth since I can just go in and out once per squirm. It's definitely traumatizing for both of us. I honestly cannot figure out how to both hold her down and get her mouth open and have another hand for holding the brush at the same time.

Tofulish - I was seriously going to say brush her teeth during the day when he's out and let her brush her own at night in front of B, but that's clearly not a great relationship answer.

(P.S. to the butt-wiping - we let Malka stand up during changes and just lift one of her legs to get a better angle.)

Hahaha, yes its a terrible relationship answer! Could you imagine how much that would suck if it went the other way? Like he thought L needed meat, so instead of talking it through, he just snuck her McDonalds and gave it to her while he was watching her?

The video is great!

_________________My oven is bigger on the inside, and it produces lots of wibbly wobbly, cake wakey... stuff. - The PoopieB.

We met a little girl who had leukemia today. She is 3.5 and so cute - she had just a few wisps of hair because of the treatment. It really put everything into perspective for me. I couldn't imagine what it takes to be strong for your child while watching them struggle with an illness that could be fatal.

We are sending her tons of good thoughts <3

_________________My oven is bigger on the inside, and it produces lots of wibbly wobbly, cake wakey... stuff. - The PoopieB.

I used to work for a lady whose son was a cancer survivor (and to top it all off, she caught her husband cheating on her when her kid had cancer and they had a divorce). The photos of when he had cancer (a tumour in his brain and bladder cancer) and all her stories were heartbreaking. But he's a teenager now and he was maybe 3 then, so there is always hope!

One of my very good friend's daughter was diagnosed with leukemia a few months ago. It is so sad to see everything that this little girl goes through. She will be 3 in August, and thank goodness she is in remission now, but still has years of treatment ahead of her.

F came to the dentist with me a couple of weeks ago (they wouldn't give her an appointment until she was 2!). She flipped the hell out when I got into the chair and wouldn't play with her substantial bag of tricks that had accompanied us. Eventually she settled on top of me, in the chair, and was suspicious but calm while I had my exam! She let the dentist look at her teeth a bit, but was very excited when the doc said she could bite her finger, heh. Getting a sticker at the end = made it all worth while, I think.

I looked on the NHS' site and they mention the varnish that Kimba has described, but our (private and expensive) dentist says that they're not doing it any longer and that the NHS is cutting back on toddler care for teeth and won't cover anything routine before age 3. Jesus H. Christ. So, we're considering taking her to the dentist when we're on holiday in our respective homelands this summer.

I looked on the NHS' site and they mention the varnish that Kimba has described, but our (private and expensive) dentist says that they're not doing it any longer and that the NHS is cutting back on toddler care for teeth and won't cover anything routine before age 3. Jesus H. Christ. So, we're considering taking her to the dentist when we're on holiday in our respective homelands this summer.

<<insert obnoxious comment about British teeth :p

We are on the NHS and they don't do anything other than look at my kids' teeth -- my dentist started checking their teeth once they had teeth, but that's all he's done (and Beety is almost 5). It's not like our dentist is particularly stingy for an NHS dentist because, I'm getting a free veneer on my chipped tooth! (Mind you, our dentist is Slovakian and also certified to practise in America, so he might be better (or more likely to humour an American who doesn't want a chipped tooth -- he's already bonded it 3 times, but it keeps falling off) than other dentists.)

I remember not getting any dental care when I was a kid until I was maybe 5, but I also didn't have any problems with my teeth. B's teeth are fine, R's have 2-3 teeny tiny chips from all the falls he's taken.

The woman who brought her sick kid to the playgroup just posted pictures of her kid whose head is covered with lice. I know lice is one of those things you risk going to playgroups, but I hadn't thought about it yest. I feel so itchy just thinking it!

_________________My oven is bigger on the inside, and it produces lots of wibbly wobbly, cake wakey... stuff. - The PoopieB.

The woman who brought her sick kid to the playgroup just posted pictures of her kid whose head is covered with lice. I know lice is one of those things you risk going to playgroups, but I hadn't thought about it yest. I feel so itchy just thinking it!

just wait til school age!!! Although maybe in the US the humiliation of the nit-check-with-the-toothpicks that I suffered in school is pretty much out of date [or is it?]... but here lice are just so common in kids. Pretty much every year til maybe grade 6 the lice made the rounds maybe once a quarter. Now I guess the older kids put so much crepe in their hair that the lice stay away, since I haven't heard anything about them lately.....

When we are in the grocery store or wherever, Inez usually likes to walk by herself rather than ride in the cart. Lots of people smile at her or say something friendly to her when they see this and lately her reaction a lot of the time is to loudly say "Hey! Uh-uh!" while wagging her finger in a scolding way (ugh, her signature move - no idea where she picked it up). I don't want her acting rude but I'm also super wary of how kids (especially girls) are expected to be "nice" all the time. I don't know how to teach a 2-year old to express whatever she's feeling in a slightly more polite way. I was a super standoffish kid, too, and my mom just kind of rolled with it. But my trick was just to hold my hand out like "stop." Which I feel is a little better than telling people off, but maybe I'm biased. Blah. I don't know.

I don't know if my input is useful as L is younger than Inez, but I would probably just let her do it. Leela is going through an "I must talk to everyone" stage, and its cute, but it also annoys people who don't like kids. They're both just exploring the world and setting their limits in it, albeit in two different ways. Unless L is actively doing something harmful, I generally just let it slide.

Interested to hear what others do.

_________________My oven is bigger on the inside, and it produces lots of wibbly wobbly, cake wakey... stuff. - The PoopieB.

I should have just said "annoys some people." I have no idea if those people like kids or not. But her being friendly does annoy people, and I just don't want to teach L to modulate her behavior right now, nor would I think it would really get it. I do wish she wouldn't go up to everyone and want them to interact with her, but that is my stuff.

_________________My oven is bigger on the inside, and it produces lots of wibbly wobbly, cake wakey... stuff. - The PoopieB.

I would probably let Inez do her thing and just talk to her about how it might make people feel? I don't know. The finger wagging sounds cute, but I understand your dilemma.

Tofulish, we have that extra-friendly thing going on and it bothers me. We were traveling this week and babynut wanted to interact with EVERYONE. It makes me uncomfortable because I'm not a big baby person. Before I had her, I was one of those people who didn't notice babies or grimaced when seated next to one. So I guess that is the perspective I take when the situation arises. The funny thing is that babynut doesn't get that reaction very often. There are so many people interested in talking and smiling at babies that it amazes me. I never even noticed babies in my previous life. I find the attention a little creepy, honestly. My approach is to smile and go on about my business without really engaging with the person myself. If someone ignores her or worse, I just say something like not everyone we see is our friend (sad but true!). I know, I'm a terrible introvert trying to get by in a big city of tons of people.

On a different note....I majorly cleaned out my bedroom for the first time since having Babynut. Two suitcases full of clothes donated, several garbage bags, and 60 books donated to the library. I finally took down the co-sleeper and packed it away. She hasn't been sleeping in it in months, but we were using it as a guard to keep her from her falling off the bed when she co-sleeps with us.

It's so nice to have my adult room back! But she will still be co-sleeping with us if she wakes in the night (which she always does). Can anyone recommend a good guard for one side of the bed? We have a platform bed with no box spring if that makes any difference.

Found a nanny, then almost killed him. We had some leftover matzah lasagna with cashew-tofu ricotta that I made on Monday and I encouraged him to feed it to Malka for lunch and said he might like it, too. Of course last week he told us he was allergic to nuts and cashews were the worst. So yeah. He had a super minor reaction and my husband only found out because he called home to check up on them and he made the nanny bring Malka to the downstairs neighbors and take himself to the hospital. I really hope he still wants to work for us. :( I feel like a total jack-ass moron.